Country's rich have lion's share of income growth

The richest 10 per cent of Australians have gained almost 50 per cent of the growth in income over the past three decades as inequality has widened throughout the Western world, according to one of the world's foremost authorities.

John Martin, who has just stepped down after 13 years as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation's director for employment, labour and social affairs, says new OECD figures estimate that between 1980 and 2008, 22 per cent of all growth in Australia's household income went to the richest 1 per cent.

The comments come as a new report reveals Australians remain the richest people in the world, by one measure at least.

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The median wealth of adult Australians stands at US$219,500 ($233,504), the highest level in the world, according to the Credit Suisse 2013 Global Wealth Report, released on Wednesday. Median wealth is the midpoint between richest and poorest. When taken on a measure of average wealth, Australians fall back to second with US$402,578 per person, behind the Swiss who were the world's richest on US$512,562).

The number of Australian millionaires increased by 38,000 to 1.123 million people.

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Property makes up the biggest proportion of wealth, but given the measure is in US dollars, strength in the Australian dollar during the survey period serves to inflate wealth here compared with other countries.

Australia's inequality is not as bad as in the US, where the richest 1 per cent gained almost half the growth in individual income over the same period, and the top 10 per cent took more than 80 per cent of the gains.

But it was worse than most, Dr Martin told a Melbourne University audience, giving the university's annual Corden Lecture in honour of his mentor, Professor Max Corden, now at the Melbourne Institute.

On the OECD's data, which he conceded may be flawed, Australia's income distribution is the eighth most unequal in the Western world, topped only by the US, Israel, Portugal, Britain, Spain, Greece and Japan.

Iceland shared its wealth the most, followed by Slovenia, Norway and Denmark.

Credit Suisse chief investment strategist in Australia David McDonald said the nation's household wealth per adult grew 2.6 per cent in the past year, compared with the global average of 4.6 per cent, but Australia still had the best distribution of wealth among developed nations.

''Although we are up there at a high level of wealth per adult we've also got a better spread than a lot of the other developed countries including, obviously, the Swiss, but also places like the US,'' Mr McDonald said.

Dr Martin said the rise in inequality occurred throughout the Western world, even in traditionally egalitarian Scandinavia. Inequality grew in good economic times and bad, and in countries with strong employment growth.

Part of the reason is that technological changes have put a bigger premium on highly-skilled workers, he said. The professional and managerial ranks have grown rapidly, while many low-skilled workers have to accept part-time and casual jobs.